After fishing hard for a year, I had landed my first catch from Chennai fishing harbour. It was about 07:00 AM and this fish hit the yozuri hydro magnum deep diver plug in translucent blue colour. Sorry about the quality of the pic, the film was old enough that I atleast got this pic out of it.

The fish was estimated to be about 8 pounds (I am not good at estimating fish weight).

That day I had a popper in my shorts pocket ready to cast just in case if something big and grey broke the surface of the water. That is the place where I had mentioned about a lot of GT action. I have planned to float out Live Mullet/Mullet Fillets next time I go there.

Agreed, Spinning gear will make life very much easier for plugging in that place in particular. But I personally prefer conventionals, mainly the way the line is reeled in over the rod. I was using Abu 6500 C3 CT Mag Elite (Magged reel) in that area untill I saw big dark grey Giant Trevallies in that place, and then switched to Abu 7500 CT Big Game reel, but still GTs are going to spool me on this reel too once I hook them. They were just too big.

I actually took few snaps of the terrain, but the pics did not come up. Will take some pics next time I go there (with new film ) and will post them here.

This is a Abu 7000 user review:
Quote
"CONCLUSION
I've been using ABU reels since the early 1960's and have been fishing with the 7000 series reels since the middle 1970's. I once hooked a 140lb porbeagle shark using a 7000 when tope fishing, also a near 70lb yellowfin tuna on 18lb line while fishing in Mexico and both fish were landed. I doubt any other reel of this size could have coped with such powerful fish and the confidence I have in these reels gives me an edge when I know I'm in for a long and difficult fight."
Unquote

I was a bit worried about the reel capacity for a GT from what a friend of mine said. He is from Sri Lanka and an Internet friend whom I believe some people on this forum will also be knowing. He is a very good fisherman too, and here is what he had mentioned to me in the other forum. Also I know another guy who used an Abu 7500 CT Big Game reel and landed a lot of Bull Sharks and Black Tip sharks from Panhandle Surf in Florida. And he is the one whom I will blame for buying my 2nd Abu, before I landed my first fish.

[quote=Mangrove Jack]As I have said a few times before, GT are a whole different ball game.

A practice I have observed here among the professionals (commercial fishermen) when fishing for large GT from shore/rock/breakwater is that they are equipped with a car tyre "tube" half filled (with air) and one flipper (because a pair of flippers goes a longer way ie. it can be used by 2 people - remember this is a 3rd world country). If they hook up with a very large GT (which is common certain times of the year) they try to hold it with their 50 yards of 100 pound test line and if they feel the fish is too strong then they grab the tube, put on the flipper and jump in to the sea and just let the fish tow them till it tires. The last time I saw this happen the fish took the guy so far out that a canoe had to be despatched to bring them back.

Another thing we rod and reel anglers sometimes have to resort to is having to join the last few yards of what is left of the line on your almost stripped reel to another anglers line and I have seen this happen to many an Abu 7000 user.

Also from experience I can say it is easier to handline a large fish especially when bringing it in after its initial runs than pumping the rod to do so. Just let the fish fight the drag of the reel and the backbone of the rod when running and holding but for bringing him in it is best to resort to handlining.

I can see many a 'sport' angler say 'nay' to this unsporting method of playing a fish but, trust me, once you hook up a 70 + pound GT from shore you will soon change your attitude toward what is termed 'fair play'.

A friend of mine recently caught a 75 + pounder from shore and we had to resort to this despite him using an Ambassadeur 10000.

And Maruthu we all use Penn Jigmasters for them large GT's as this reel has a smooth drag, casts well, is bullet proof reliable and has just about sufficient line capacity.[/quote]

I hope no body minds if I highjack this thread for a while. Since you alll are discussing about conventional reels, I would like to know whether there are any special way of casting from these reels. A few days back I had bought one Shimano Tekota TEK800 and a Abu Garcia AG7 (I was told that it was a Abu 7000 multiplier reel) from ebay. The Shimano is very heavy but very smooth. The AG7 is a little smaller but not very heavy. I dont know whether I had bought the right ones for me but the main problem with me is that after I cast, the line is in a mess. The phenomenon is what you all seasoned anglers describe as bird's nest or something like that.

How can I master the art of casting with a conventional reel? Please advice. Two more reels are coming One is a Okuma and the other is Shimano TLD 25.

I personally have not met anyone who has got "spooled" a lot of people tend to exaggerate their experiences. I know the power a GT has, use the right line on your reel and set and use your drag correctly I think you can safely land a 150lb GT, remember you can hammer these fish in a fight if it is hooked well. If you would have noticed the “All tackle” World record for GT i.e. the picture I posted on your other thread, was caught on a spinning reel. I have got a video of another Japanese land a GT even larger than that one from shore on a spinning reel.

I know of a place in India where they fish for GT’s of such monstrous proportions that I am not even going to mention the weights here the fish above are nothing in comparison, translated into English they call these fish “Horse Trevally” The locals can’t handle them so the use plastic barrels on the fish once hooked and follow them around in a boat till the fish tires.

Apoo, my brother is really good with the O/H, he used to work temporarily on offshore Rigs doing mud logging surveys. They used to spin at night for Yellow Fin Tuna with, believe it or not, real heavy home made silver spoons using a conventional reels a 6 foot trolling rod / Standup and the rod had roller guides on it!! Don’t ask me how he did it. I don’t like casting conventionals into the wind ruins my day so I switched back to spinning reels for spinning.

That's a nice Barracuda you have there. Congrats. As for GT.... I've seen what a GT can do to an Abu 10000. The one we were using got so hot we could not touch the sides. A miracle the fish was landed on that reel mostly due to the absence of any structure in the vicinity.

Hi Guy's,
Casting with a multiplier takes a little practice to avoid birds nests, and that happens to all of us.

1. I dissagree with LF when he says use heavy line, as this will reduce your casting distance and frustrate you.
2. Casting with a light lure is more difficult than with a heavy weight, so line dia compromise comes into play.
3. Set the casting drag so that when the rod is pointed towards the sky and the reel put in free spool, the lure just begins to fall downwards.
4. When casting a light lure dont use the beach caster position (which is used for casting a heavy weight a long way), but face your target and let the rod move in a straight line overhead from behind you.
5. Take your thumb off the spool when your rod is in the 12 o'clock position.
6. When your lure has reached about 75% of the distance, jently use your thumb as a break to reduce the drum speed, and stop the drum revolving alltogether as soon as the lure hits the water.
7. If you still have a birds nest, then gradually increase casting drag settings.
The best way to master this is on a playing field despite the fact that some will think you are loco. Hope this helps.
Hi Apoo, i had a look at the TEKOTA 800 on Sunday, great reel, but a bit big for comfortable OH casting. Should be great in the sea, or for someone who is ready to sit on his bum all day with a rod sitting on a stand Regards
Owen

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